After
settling into the sparkling white and turquoise dining room, I couldn’t help
but drool over the carts of glistening ducks that just kept coming out – even
tables of three (the smallest we could see) order duck. Our waiter suggests we
put in the request for the Peking duck first, as it takes 30-minutes to
prepare; a time-saving recommendation that allowed dinner to be finished in
little over an hour.
Due to
the long preparation time, all the other dishes come out first. QJD offers an
extensive menu with a lot of offal items. We shied away from these but did try
some atypical offering. One of these dishes was the Xi’an rice noodle dressed
with spicy sauce ($11.99), which although described as cold, the knife cut
noodles were thankfully warm. Overall, it’s a simple but enjoyable dish: the
spicy sauce (bean paste mixed with chili oil) went nicely with the chewy
noodles, crunchy julienned cucumbers, and spongy slivers of gluten.
Another
little seen dish is the traditional Beijing style smoked chicken and tofu sheet
roll ($15.99). While it looks pretty, the dish’s texture and flavour reminded
everyone of cold mild Spam; for those who like the canned meat this could be
fine, but for someone who doesn’t I was disappointed.
While
the fried squid in pepper and salt ($18.99) was tender and had a great crunchy
crust, it could stand to be drained longer and tasted like the chef forgot to
add salt (although there was enough pepper). Luckily, we saved the chili oil
from the chilled noodles, a good universal condiment, which helped to flavour
the dish.
Finally,
to balance out all the meat and carbs an order of sautéed snow pea shoots
($21.99) seemed ideal. It arrives in as a sizeable mound and was cooked nicely
retaining the bright green colour and slight crunch.
After all
the other dishes were finished, the main event … the DUCK ($118) … was served.
The first teaser consists of bite-sized pieces of the oiliest skin – indulgent tastes
you can augment with sugar.
Then
the beautiful peony dish arrives - the reason you’d pay a $30 premium over
their regular set. Since I’ve never had the "non-premium" version, I can’t comment
whether you actually receive more of the fowl, however six hollow sesame seed
buns are extra items with this combo.
Presumably,
since the buns arrive with the dish, these are meant to be eaten together.
Sadly, the buns are cold and its dough is in dire need of seasoning; without
adequate hoisin sauce, it’s rather plain – yet you don’t want to waste too much
of the sauce as despite the hefty price the duck, each additional dish is another $1.39.
All
the sudden, a manager arrives with a gong (how theatrical!) to announce the
presentation of the rest of the duck. After the beautiful peony, everything
else comes in a hacked up pile, seemingly to resemble the duck’s body. On the
side, another dish holds slices of the duck’s neck and head – the neck is
pretty tasteless but an interesting cut that’s not normally served.
QJD
does provide plenty of steamed pancakes (24 to an order) all large enough to
allow adequate folding around the ingredients. They’re unbelievably thin and
elastic, one of the most impressive parts of the meal! Meanwhile, although the
duck has glossy slightly crispy skin, it isn’t seasoned enough
(especially the duck’s meat) so all the flavour comes from the condiments.
Surprisingly,
despite the $118 price, there is no “second course”– typically lettuce wraps or
the even a chopped-up carcass. Hence, even with all the dishes, it left our
table of five comfortably satisfied but not overly full.
We
opted for the cute duckling shaped crispy puff stuffed with date paste ($21.99)
for dessert, which caused everyone to squeal like school girls when presented.
In actuality, the overly thick pastry dough isn’t crispy and the dessert reminds
me of a drier fig newton - picture worthy, but not an overly delicious dish.
Luckily, we each received half a bowl of sweet almond soup, which although
lukewarm helped to balance the crumbly dessert.
Without
a doubt, QJD is nicely decorated and is a restaurant for celebrating an occasion or
impressing guests. Unlike some Chinese restaurants, the service is also
attentive and friendly: our waiter spoke three languages (so could answer
everyone) and joked around with us.
Oddly,
with all the branding elsewhere - from the gigantic duck out front to the duck
chop stick holders) - their menu (the first thing a customer reads) looks like
someone whipped it up on Excel and pressed print … not a drop of colour or even
a logo in sight. I can understand they’re likely testing out the menu during
their opening period, seeing what sells and adjusting accordingly, but at least
pretty up the temporary document so it doesn’t paint such a stark contrast
against everything else.
Duck
statue, duck flowers, duckling desserts … all cute and flashy. Yet, I expected
more from a restaurant that’s been operating for over 150 years. Who knows,
maybe the recipe hasn’t changed since the Qing Dynasty and back then salt and
spices were rare and used sparingly. Nowadays, it makes for a bland duck - pretty, but tasteless.
